Swaddling question?

prncsstp

Hey Ladies -

If you swaddled your LO - tell me about your transition out of swaddling. Riht now, O NEEDS to be swaddled at night. When swaddled, he sleeps straight from 10pm-ish until 6-7am. The only time he ever wakes up in the night is if he manages to break one/both arm(s) free from the swaddleme wrap...Either he is hitting himself in the face, or he's startling himself awake. Then its hit or miss to get him back to sleep... which means Mommy = Zombie in the AM

He will be rolling from back to front soon (already can roll front to back, and can get himself up onto his side from his back) - so I know I'll have to stop swaddling soon - but I really enjoy sleeping myself, so Im not eager to go cold turkey, and I feel like if I start leaving one arm out - im in the same predicament - O waking up at night when startled.

So I guess, Im looking for two things - 1. Is there any sort of swaddling wrap transition? When do the arms stop having a mind of their own?

Thoughts and suggestions are welcome.

DawnAM

Can you try swaddling with his arms out?  It won't help with the arm issue you're having, but he might like being partially swaddled as a transition.  I'm a FTM, so I can't offer anything I've tried, but I'm interested to know if anyone else has suggestions because my LO *loves* being swaddled, too.  Good luck!

emiliemetcalf

T was swaddled for about 6 months.  Even when she could roll both ways and sit up on her own, she couldn't do any of those things as tightly as we swaddled her!  It was the only way we could get her to sleep any length of time at night.  Eventually, it was spring and she was getting hot in the swaddle, so we tried the one arm out thing and it didn't work, so we just settled in for a few long nights.  But one she figured out tummy sleeping, there was no turning back.

Don't know if that answers the questions, but I say swaddle for as long as possible and get some sleep!

jnk062602

Well, we were extended swaddlers for dd!  She definitely still had the startle reflex at 3 months and slept so much better when swaddled.  Eventually she probably didn't need to be swaddled, but it was one of those things that if it wasn't broke, don't fix it.  We swaddled overnight until 6 months and then we only stopped bc we did cio and I wanted her to have her hands free to self-soothe.  And we swaddled (and had her in the swing) for naps until 1 year and only stopped bc we were going on vacation and didn't want to bring the swing with us.

As she got bigger, I had to double swaddle so she wouldn't break out.  I used a light-weight swaddle blanket and swaddled her up.  Eventually this turned into more just taco-type rolling bc she was too long to do the feet part of the swaddle.  And then we stuck her in a velcro enclosed swaddle-me.

abba916

L hated the swaddle- I tried for a month and then said forget it...the startle reflex went away around 3.5-4m (if I remember correctly)- maybe thats just when he started to sleep better overall...

missyjg

This product was the best b/c B had a horrible startle reflex and she would break out of any swaddle that we attempted after she was 2 months old.

https://www.amazon.com/Summer-Infant-Swaddlepod-Months-Ivory/dp/B0033UVJOU/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1316546428&sr=8-7

To get her to break her swaddle habit, we just stopped swaddling cold turkey duirng naps, and then eventually I just put the sleep sack on her instead of the swaddle pod. Took a few nights of her waking up but she got used to it. Honestly, after she could find her pacifier and put it back herself (around 6-7 months) did she EVER sleep through the night.